Improvement in car-brakes



2 Sheets- Sheet 1.

a. M. Human.

Car-Brakes.

mof lasgzws.

Patented Jan.5, F1875.

INVENTOR WITNESSES THE GRAPHIC CO-PHOYOLKTQL39E IFAHK PLACE,N.\C

-Si1eet 2.

2 Sheets- N I N H U R TU Car-Brakes.

- Pate nted Jan. 5, 1875. 1

INVENTOR WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT Orrron NUMON N. HORTON, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

lMPROVEMENT IN CAR-BRAKES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 158,493, dated January 5, 1875; application filed November 25, 1874.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, NUMON N. HORTON, of Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented an Improvement in Gar-Brakes, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to a car-brake by,

which friction is applied to the rails instead of to the wheels.

The improvements consist, first, in the employment of shoes sliding in vertical guides, and applying the leverage force to depress the said shoes into contact with the rails and the spring, by which they are retracted when released near the lower ends of the shoes; second, in uniting the shoes on the opposite sides of the car by a rigid transverse beam, receiving the pressure of a toggle-lever through a universal joint, which permits the application of the depressing force at the center, and the equalization of the pressure on the rails; third, in the employment for depressing the shoes of a vertical toggle -lever, operated through suitable connections, by a system of horizontal levers, which permit the application of the power from either direction, so that the brakes may be operated from either platform of any car, or by means of a system of air, vacuum, or steam brakes, or by hydraulic pressure, or any other appliance in use, by which the engineer is enabled to apply the brakes to all the cars in a train simultaneously.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the bed and running-gear of a car illustrating my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is an under-side view with the trucks omitted. Fig. 4 is a central'transverse section.

A may represent the bed of a railway-car of any usual construction, resting upon trucks B B, which, in my invention, are entirely disconnected from the brakes. My improved brakes are constructed with shoes (3 O, sliding in vertical guides D, and elevated by springs E, which preferably have bearin gs on horizontal projections or shoulders F, connected with the guides D. G represents a toggle-lever, having a permanent bearing, 9, at top, jointed in the center at g, and resting by a knucklewhen required, in order at all times to bring the shoes with an equal pressure upon the respective rails. The movement of the toggle G to depress the shoes is efl'ected by a con necting-yoke, J, adapted to operate the toggle either by a tension or a thrust from either direction, and pivoted at its ends to levers K L, of which K isia lever of the first order, fulcrumed at k, and L is a lever of the second order, fulcrumed at Z, so that a draft upon the lever K on one end of the car will cause it to straighten the toggle by a pull upon the yoke J, and a draft upon the lever L from the opposite end of the car will impart a thrust to the yoke operating the toggle in the same direction. The lever K is connected by a rod or chain, M, either to the winding-sheave O of a customary hand-brake shaft, I", or to a 0011- tinuous brake. rod or shaft coupled to other cars of the train, or to the piston-rod of an air, or vacuum, or steam brake, or to a hydraulic brake, or any form of mechanical brake, automatic or otherwise. The lever L is in like manner operated by a rod or chain, N, carried in the other direction to the opposite end of the car.

As the mode of applying my-invention to the various systems of brake-operating mechanism now in use either by hand-power or compressed air, or atmospheric, or steam, or hydraulic pressure, or by electricity, or by an automatic connection with the running-gear of the cars, will be readily understood by one skilled in the art, a further and more specific description thereof is not required. I have shown all the connections which arepeculiar to my invention or distinguish it from "brakes heretofore in use, and such connections are adapted and applicable to the various kinds of mechanism for operating the brakes by a longitudinal draft or pressure from one or either end of the car. 1 have shown at Q Q separate chains to illustrate the connection of my brakes with a continuous line extending from car to car.

The vertical guides D of the shoes 0 are securely braced by stay-rods S or other means, to enable them to support the heavy horizontal pressure of the shoes in checking the momentum of the train. The shoes 0 are made of much greater transverse breadth than the rails, in order to cause them to act effectively on the surface of the rails under their various relative positions due'to curves of the tracks. If desirable, a rubber or other elastic bearing may be used between the transverse beam 1- and shoes 0, to prevent jar by too sudden applications of the shoe to the rail, or by inequalities in the surface of the rail. R represents the track-rails.

When it is desired to apply the brakes either rod M, N, Q, or Q is drawn toward the end of the car in which it is located, and the power thereby applied to the lever K or L, as the case may be, will, by a draft or thrust of the connecting-yoke J, tend to straighten the toggle Gr, thereby exerting a powerful downward pressure upon the transverse beams I, and forcing the shoes 0 into contact with the rails R with any necessary power. The broad bearing of the shoes upon the rails, affording a friction greatly in excess of that which can be applied through the medium of the wheels, effects a quick checking and arrest of the momentum of the train without undue violence, and without any danger to the running-gear or rails. As soon as the chain is released the springs E instantly elevate the shoes to their normal positions out of contact with the rails, and at a sufficient distance therefrom to prevent any contact between the shoes and rails under the vertical or careening movement of the ear-body, which is permitted by the supporting-springs.

It will be readily understood that the shoe will come in contact with the rail and stop the train of itself in case of the lowering of the car by a fractured wheel or axle.

The following is claimed as new:

1. The combination of the brake-shoes O O, to work within vertical guides D D, the transverse beam I, bearing on said shoes near their lower ends, and the springs E E for elevating the shoes when released, all constructed and to operate substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the brake-shoes G O, transverse beam 1, toggle-lever G, and universal knuckle-joint H, as and for the purposes set forth.

3. The combination, with the brake-shoes O O and transverse beam I, of the toggle G, the yoke J, and the horizontal levers K L, for permitting the movement of the toggle in one and the same direction by a draft from either end of the car, as set forth.

N. N. HORTON.

Witnesses:

OoTAvIUs KNIGHT, WALTER ALLEN. 

